To help with cash deposits, the Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank have launched the service UPI-ICD facility.
As part of the landmark process of modernization in banks, the RBI, as a collaborative effort with the NPCI, has introduced UPI-ICD. This new facility is meant to make cash deposits through ATMs easy and secure by scrapping hard or plastic debit cards. Read on for the answer to the question of everything one needs to know about it.
Meaning: Cash Credit through an interoperable application
The UPI-ICD facility allows customers to credit cash into either his own account or any other account through a UPI-enabled app. At a traditional ATM, depositing cash needed a debit card, which is no longer the case with a UPI-ICD. Instead, this transaction can be performed through the UPI-enabled app of the smartphone.
This facility is provided at some particular ATMs. These ATMs are fitted with high-end cash recycler machines, which can accept as well as dispense cash, also. Now, they are upgraded to include support for UPI transactions, too. Through cash deposit linked to UPI, banks see to make the entire banking process easier and provide a cardless easy facility of cash management.
Using UPI-ICD: A Step-by-Step Guide
Here’s how you can utilize the UPI-ICD facility for cash deposit:
- Locate an ATM with UPI-ICD Support: Find an ATM that has a cash recycler machine with the facility of UPI-ICD. The service is on offer currently at selective ATMs managed by banks such as Axis Bank and Union Bank of India.
- Scan the QR Code: You will find a QR code on the ATM screen. Now open up your smartphone and take any UPI-enabled application to scan the QR code you are seeing. All main banking applications have UPI-enabled features, so you can make use of any of these applications for this purpose.
- Select ‘Cash Deposit’: Now select the ‘cash deposit’ option on the ATM screen to prompt the transaction.
- Authenticate Transaction: Enter the number that you have used when registering for your UPI account, your UPI ID or the IFSC of the account where you intend to deposit into. This is the authentication step that will take you through in completing the deposit.
- Amount to Deposit: Enter the amount of cash you intend to deposit and confirm the transaction.
- Deposit Cash: Push the cash into the cash deposit slot of the ATM. The ATM will count and confirm the amount. Once confirmed, it will get credited into your bank account in real-time basis from this very ATM.
Benefits of UPI-ICD
The facility of UPI-ICD has several benefits:
- Cardless Convenience: It is not necessarily essential to carry a debit card to make a cash deposit. This helps minimize exposure to the risk of losing or misplacing your card and prevents consequent card-related fraud.
- Increased Security: Transactions are encrypted to provide the highest level of protection for users’ sensitive information in today’s age of rising banking fraud.
- Seamless Integration: UPI-ICD seamlessly integrates with the existing UPI infrastructure, which can be availed on familiar UPI apps. Such an interface facilitates easy adaptation by the customers and enables them to avail of the new feature.
- Increased Reach: After the rollout, more banks and ATMs in the country will accept UPI-ICD, hence increasing reach for many more users.
Banks Offering UPI-ICD
Current banks that implement UPI-ICD are Axis Bank and Union Bank of India. This facility is expected to go live to other banks and ATMs in a phased manner. Keep an eye out for updates from your bank on when you would be able to enjoy this feature.
Conclusion
This is a great leap in the banking technology as providing a cardless, secure, and convenient cash deposit facility by UPI-ICD. This is a new facility for depositing cash through the use of UPI infrastructure, which makes the process of the entire cash deposit much more refined than ever with several improvements in the overall experience of banking. Now it is going to propel digital banking to the next level once more banks introduce it as a standard offering to the millions of their customers.
